Samsung UN49KS8000 vs Sony XBR49X800D Review

Samsung UN49KS8000 and Sony XBR49X800D are the mid-end of 2016 model 49 Inch 4K LED TV in the market. They certainly are not comparable considering UN49KS8000 is sold much more expensive than XBR49X800D. But there is no harm if we compare performance that offered by each of them. XBR49X800D is including a cheap TV with good picture quality and offer great performance on some features. Meanwhile, the highlight of UN49KS8000 is about Ultra HD Premium Certification that guarantees its great performance when displaying HDR contents. The big downside both of them, they equally has poor side viewing angle due the use IPS panel as their panel technology. But in other hand, they offer deep black level and strong contrast that makes the picture that displayed on their screen looks amazing. So, what are the advantage and disadvantages of each to the others and which is a better choice between them? Let’s start discuss a lot side by side about their performance.

Short Review of Samsung UN49KS8000

Samsung UN49KS8000 is the cheapest TV that certified by Ultra HD premium Certification. This means it can display HDR 10 contents fully without any issues. As long as you watch TV from center and in front of the screen, the picture that displayed on its screen looks very amazingly. Black level is very deep as well as the contrast that produced, it is also very strong. Color also looks very accurate due Quantum Dot technology behind it. Additionally, with Peak Illuminator Pro Technology behind it, UN49KS8000 can reach about 1400 nits of peak brightness. This makes it is including the brightest TVs in 2016. With very deep black level and bright peak brightness, no matter the light condition in the room, the picture that displayed on its screen looks very amazing, even in a room with a lot of window or showroom. Behind it, there are the number of Samsung’s most advanced technology like Quantum Dot technology, UHD Dimming, Precision black (local Dimming), and many more. The only downside of UN49KS8000 in term of picture quality is viewing angle where its side viewing angle is very poor. Additionally, there is also no 3D technology behind it.

In addition to amazing picture quality, Samsung UN49KS8000 is also equipped with great performance UHD Up-scaling engine that allows you to enjoy lower resolution contents to near 4K quality clearly and sharply. Additionally, it is also a good TV when used for watching sport program or fast moving images due its good performance when handling motion blur. Its ability to remove judder also makes it as a good TV for watching 24p movies. Additionally, combination of low input lag and low response time also makes UN49KS8000 as a great TV for playing any kind of games, even for responsive games. And for completing your home entertainment with smart experience, it features Tizen OS as its smart TV platform.

Short Review of Sony XBR49X800D

Sony XBR49X800D is a mid class of Sony’s 2016 4K TV lineup. Unlike its brother X850D series that comes with IPS panel, XBR49X800D comes with VA panel. As the impact, its side viewing angle is not as wide as X850D series but as instead, it offer deeper black level and stronger contrast than its brother X850D. Additionally, with TriLuminos display technology behind it, XBR49X800d also supports wide color gamut that makes the color of the picture that displayed on its screen looks very saturated and accurate, even when displaying HDR contents that required wide color gamut. But unfortunately, its peak brightness is not too bright, so when used in a very bright room, the picture looks slight dim. Additionally, with around 375 nits of peak brightness, this is still is the only factor why it s not certified by Ultra HD Premium Certification and cannot displayed HDR 10 contents fully. Nevertheless, when displaying SDR contents, as long as you come from center and in front of the screen, the picture displayed on the screen of XBR49X800D looks very well for its price.

Like UN49KS8000, Sony XBR49KS800D is also equipped with great performance UHD Up-scaling engine, even its performance slight better than KS8000. It is also a good TV when used for watching sport program due its pixel response time is very quick. Input lags at any source may not as low as UN49KS8000, but it is still great for video games. XBR49X800D is also a good TV for watching movies especially 24p movies from Blu-Ray. While when playing 24p via 60i or 60p signals, it cannot remove judder. And as its smart TV platform, it features Google Android TV that is not less attractive and responsive than Tizen OS.

Sony XBR49KS8000 vs Sony XBR49X800D Performance

Picture Quality

The major advantages of Samsung UN49KS8000 than Sony XBR49X800D is about their peak brightness where UN49KS8000 is including the brightest TV in 216 while peak XBR49X800D is not too bright. As the note, peak brightness reached by UN49KS8000 is about 1470 nits when inputted by HDR signals and around 1330 nits when inputted by SDR signals. Meanwhile, when inputted by HDR signals, XBR49X800D reach about 375 nits and when inputted by SDR peak brightness is around 270 nits. This indicates picture produced by KS8000 is far brighter that makes the quality of the picture looks consistent in a very bright room. In other hand, what reached by UN49KS8000 also exceeds the minimum peak brightness that required for displaying HDR 10 contents fully. In other hand, although XBR49X800D already deliver very deep black level and strong contrast, but it is not as deep and strong as what reached by UN49K08000. As the note, black level reached by XBR49KS8000 is around 0.016 nits with native contrast ratio around 6900:1 while XBR49KS800D reach about 0.026 of black level with native contrast ratio about 3900:1. This means in addition to it offers brighter picture, UN49KS8000 also offers deeper black level and stronger contrast.

Moving on color performance, both of them already support color gamut that required for displaying HDR. Sony XBR49X800D with TriLuminos Display technology can reach about 94% of DCI P3 color space while Samsung UN49KS8000 with Quantum Dot Panel can reach about 95% of DCI P3 color space. While for displaying HDR 10 contents fully, it need at least 90% of DCI P3 color space. . This indicates their different performance in color reproduction is not too far and when they are displaying HDR, there will no issue on color reproduction. Still about color performance, both of them also already support 10 bit panel for smooth color gradient. In this case, again, UN49KS8000 is slight superior than XBR49X800D.

Nevertheless, you can enjoy good picture quality that displayed on their screen only from center and in front of the screen. Started at 20 degrees off center and front, the picture will start to deteriorate due both of them use VA Panel. And the wider angle from center, picture deterioration will be more noticeable.

In other hand, both of them are equipped with great performance of UHD Up-scaling engine that allows you to enjoy video with any resolution in near 4K quality. No matter resolution of your source, even low resolution content like 480p or DVDs, the final images in 4K quality that produced looks sharply and clearly with small detail preserved well. And of course, the higher resolution of the source like 720p or 1080p, the final image produced will look sharper and clearer.

From all display specs that offered by them, we can see the major advantages of Samsung UN49KS8000 than Sony XBR49X800D is about peak brightness that makes it offers far brighter picture. While on other aspects of display specs, although UN49KS8000 is also superior, but its superiority is not too major. Peak brightness is also the only factor that makes XBR49X800D is not certified by Ultra HD Premium Certification. Meanwhile, with superiority on all aspect of picture quality, UN49KS8000 offers slight better picture quality than XB49X800D. Let alone when displaying HDR, with Ultra HD Premium Certification, its HDR performance is far better than XBR49X800D. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean what offered by Sony XBR49X800D is poor. What offered by XBR49X800D still can be said great. The excepting of its picture is too dim, especially when used in a very bright room or displaying HDR contents, what offered by XBR49X800D is not far behind UN49KS8000.

Winner: Samsung UN49KS8000

Motion Handling and 24p Playback

Samsung UN49KS8000 is powered by Motion Rate 240 Hz based on native 120 Hz while Sony XBR49X800D is powered by Motion Flow XR240 based on native 60 Hz refresh rate panel. Nevertheless, pixel response time of XBR49X800D is quicker than UN48KS8000. The result, when displaying fast moving images like sports program, XBR49X800D offers smoother picture with less motion blur than UN49KS8000. Nevertheless, there is only a faint trail following fast moving object on the screen of UN49KS8000 and this should be an issue for most people. In other hand, when displaying 24p movies, UN49KS8000 offers better performance with judder free, especially when they are playing 24p movies via 60i and 60p signals. Meanwhile, when displaying 24p contents from Blu Ray, both of them equally offer judder-free. Additionally, Samsung UN49KS8000 also already supports both 30 fps and 60 fps Motion interpolation while Sony XBR9X800D only supports 30fps motion interpolation.

Winner: Samsung UN49KS8000

Inputs/Outputs

Both of them are equally equipped with 4 HDMI ports and 3 USB ports as their major connectivity. Nevertheless, there is no AV (Composite In) and Component in behind UN49KS8000 while XBR49X800D is equipped with 1 Component in and 2 Av In (Composite). In addition to these ports, both of them are also equipped with Ethernet, RF In, Digital Audio Out (Optical), RS 232, Analog Audio out. The difference between them is where these ports are located. All of inputs/outputs ports of XBR49X800D are installed on the rear panel of the screen, while for UN49KS8000, All HDMI Ports, RF In, and 2 USB ports are installed on separated box called One Connect Box. Talking about input lags, UN49KS8000 offers lower input lags at any sources than XBR49X800D. This means it is better for any kinds of games especially for fast reflexes games. Meanwhile, although input lag of XBR49X800D is not as low as UN49KS8000, but it is still quite low for any kind of games.

Winner: Samsung UN49KS8000

Smart TV

Both of them equally feature attractive and responsive smart TV platform. Samsung UN49KS8000 comes with Tizen OS while Sony XBR49X800D comes with Google Android TV. Design and user interface of them are equally attractive. Additionally, their performance is also equally fast and responsive. But for deep navigation, Tizen OS is more straightforward and easier than Google Android TV. Meanwhile about apps provided, both of them also equally provide complete apps. There are most popular apps like YouTube, Netflix, HuluPlus, Amazon Videos, and more, Web Browser, Screen Mirroring, Cloud Games Services, Apps and Contents Store, and many more.

As the controller, UN49KS8000 comes with “Samsung Smart Controller” while XBR49X800D comes with Basic Remote. A difference, Samsung remote has minimalist buttons while Sony Remote has a lot of buttons. Both of them are also equally equipped with voice navigation functionality. In other hand, both of them also can be used for controlling other devices that connected on TV via HDMI. Samsung Smart controller can be served as universal remote while for controlling other devices on 49KS8000, there is additional equipment called IR blaster included in the box.

Conclusion

The major advantage of Samsung UN49KS8000 than Sony XBR49X800D is about peak brightness that makes the picture that produced is far better. Meanwhile, although the other aspect of display specs is also superior like contrast, black level, color gamut, color gradient, but this superiority is not as striking as its superiority in peak brightness. The superiority of UN49KS8000 will be very noticeable when they are displaying HDR contents or when used in a very bright room. Meanwhile, when displaying SDR contents in a dark room or a room with decent light, UN49KS8000 is also superior to XBR49X800D, but for most people, their difference not so far. Likewise on other features like 24p movies, input lag, smart TV, although UN49KS8000 is superior to XBR49K800D, the superiority is not too significant.

So, which is a better choice between them? If HDR performance is you main consideration in buying TV and you don’t mind to spend about hundreds dollar more, of course UN49KS8000 is a better choice for you. But if your budget is limited, XBR49X800D is also not a bad choice considering its good picture quality in a dark room and great performance of some features that offered. But even so, before you decide to choose one of them, there are a lot of opinions from each of their real users where you can make as your further consideration.

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